mPOS (mobile point of sale) in Europe will take off dramatically in 2014, driven by changing perceptions towards card acceptance usage by small businesses (SMEs) and micro-merchants. The number of European merchants signing up for Chip and PIN mPOS increased by more than 60% in the last quarter of 2013.
According to a new Visa Europe study, over a quarter of SMEs surveyed expressed an interest in taking up a mPOS solution within the next 6 months. mPOS’ ease of use is cited as its unique selling point by the majority of small businesses (74% of those in France, 73% in Germany, 63% in the UK and Poland respectively and 59% in Italy). Security was noted as the most important feature, closely followed by industry compliance and the ability to accept all major cards. Almost half of those surveyed in Germany thought that mPOS would increase their sales as customers may spend more and are not limited by the amount of cash they have available at the time of purchase. About 45% of small business surveyed in Italy found that mPOS would improve their cash flow as it would enable them to get paid quicker.
Twenty-five mPOS solutions are currently live across Europe and several key banks have started mPOS pilots with 30 implementation projects set to launch a new Chip and PIN compliant program by autumn this year; the most recent being Barclaycard in the UK.
The research was conducted in five European markets, including UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland between the months of September and December 2013.
The research included a quantitative element with 2,213 online interviews with a nationally representative sample of tax-registered business owners with less than ten employees that are non-acceptors of cards.
The research was conducted by Rainmakers CSI on behalf of Visa Europe.
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For more data on mPOS access CardData®. For information and commentary on mPOS visit the searchable CardFlash® Library of more than 58,000 articles published since 1995. Custom RAM Research® projects on mPOS are available exclusively through CardWeb.com.®
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Visa Europe is a payments technology business owned and operated by member banks and other payment service providers from 37 countries across Europe.
There are 500 million Visa cards in Europe, while €1 in every €6.50 spent in Europe is on a Visa card. In the year to September 2013, total expenditure on Visa cards reached €2 trillion, while point-of-sale spend increased by 8.5% to €1.4 trillion. Annual online spending on Visa cards continues to grow (20% year-on-year) and now stands at €240 billion.
Since 2004, Visa Europe has been independent of Visa Inc. and incorporated in the UK, with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual license in Europe.
